Restart? (Y)
by y-ye
Summary: Time is fluid, Death is predetermined, and some people like to try and die before their time. This... This is actually more normal than you'd think. And if you've done it once, you're probably gonna do it again. In which Hinata (and perhaps many, many other volleyballers) have Something To Do Before Dying, not that they know what it is.
1. Hinata and The PB&J of Doom

Hinata (had he any knowledge of this excerpt) would like to preface this with a disclaimer; he was not eating too fast. He was simply... forgetting to breathe between bites. And had forgotten water. And had requested chunky peanut butter that morning. So it wasn't his fault he's actually died, okay? Totally not.

His Watcher disagreed.

"Now Shou-chan, what did your mother tell you just this morning?" This lady was sitting at one of those Desks, the kind principals and CEOs had. Her eyes were disappointed, and her lips pouted slightly. In fact, the whole room looked sort of like that. There weren't any windows though, maybe it was an office? There was a door though, but he wasn't sure he was willing to risk angering the lady on top of whatever disappointment she was feeling.

"Uh... Buy more eggs?"

"Actually, she wanted more milk, but that's not the point. She told you to be careful about eating your sandwich! Seriously, imagine how this is gonna look on your record. 'Choked on a peanut butter sandwich because he couldn't be bothered to slow down at age eleven' is just silly."

"I'm dead?"

"Yeah, why else would you be here?" She turned to her computer- hey, was that there before?- and went to work on the keyboard. "Now I'm going to put you back, just sit tight for a few minutes."

"B-but I'm dead! Aren't I supposed to stay dead?"

"This is gonna go right over your head, but time is fluid, and while death is inevitable, it remains unshifted." Glancing at his scrunched up face, she sighed. "Most people all have at least one big Thing to do before dying. We call it your Something To Do Before Dying clause. Most people don't need a Watcher like me, but well... You do. You're trouble Shou-chan, but we can't let you move on just because of a few setbacks. Actually, there are quite a few cases like yours in your area- Japan, was it?"

"Yeaaah. Sooo, do you know what I'm supposed to do?"

"Yeah, but I can't tell you. Watcher rules, and all." Pausing in her typing, she looked at him and smiled. "And do be careful from now on. Because you've died once, your soul will now have a tendency to... try and come back, shall we say. We can fix it of course, but you don't really want to be dying all the time, right?"

"Of course not!"

"Well then, see you next time, Shou-chan. Good luck! Try not to send me too much paperwork!"

And then he was back in his body, thoroughly confused but determined to have fun. And maybe find out what that weird office was about. There had to have been others who'd been there, right?

But fate took its course and he was distracted by thoughts of the Small Giant and the thought of making his own wings.


	2. Kuroo and A Pillow

Kuroo dies in his sleep from trying to find a position that feels comfortable and won't make his hair stick up like a rooster and finding one that just so happens to also be deadly. Who knew?

"Kid, people think your hair is cool. It's not worth killing yourself to get rid of it. Have you tried getting a haircut?"

"But I don't wanna cut it!" Tiny eight year old Kuroo whines, feet swinging back and forth at a concerning speed. "And I can't fix it when I sleep like that!"

"Okay," The person behind the desk sighs, pinching the bridge of their reddened nose. "Have you considered showering after you wake up, instead?"

"...I can do that?"

"If your dad says so, I guess." Their hand went to a small bowl of lollipops stationed just far away enough that tiny prying hands couldn't steal the whole bowl. "Here, have a strawberry lolly. I'll have you back to life in a jiffy."

"Mommy says death is permanent," Kuroo muttered, struggling with unwrapping the sweet he'd been handed. "Sooo..."

"Your mommy doesn't know everything. Though she knows a lot of things," the person cautioned when Kuroo suddenly brightened, "including that too many sweets will send you right back here to the office between life and death. Please don't do it again."

"But now that I know I won't die forever, what's stopping me from being crazy?"

"One Kenma Kozume, I've been told. And it's conditional, Kuroo, you have something to do before we let you through, but once it's done you're fair game." They smirked with just a hint of teeth that were too sharp and too many. "Have a good life, Kuroo."


	3. Oikawa and Watch Out For That-

"Iwaizumi is going to laugh at you, and I'm going to laugh with him." The man paused, tugging on his ponytail thoughtfully. "Well, after he finishes crying and forcing you to be within five feet of him for a week. Then he'll laugh."

"Iwa-chan isn't that mean!" Oikawa whined, ten years old and pouty. "It was just a stupid truck, shoulda watched where it was going."

"I believe your father would say that you should have watched where you were going, instead of trying to get to icecream faster. Do you know nothing of observation?"

"Obser... observaaaay..."

"Observation. You know, looking at things and figuring out what they do a lot. Patterns and stuff."

"Ah! No." Oikawa said honestly, but his eyes grew narrow and shrewd. "Would doing that help me with volleyball?"

"I'd imagine it would. Predicting how opponents react to certain actions, along with your own teammates, would likely allow you to make a decision that would win you the game." The man nodded, eyes glued to the computer screen.

"Soooo, whatcha doin'?"

"Putting you back into your body, rewinding time, the usual."

"Sounds tricky," Oikawa huffed as he scooted off his chair and tried to walk around the desk.

"Ooooh no you don't," The man said, one of his four hands reaching out to ward Oikawa off. "Live people aren't supposed to see this stuff. Secrets of the universe and all that."

"You just don't want me to get four arms and be even better at volleyball," Oikawa pouted again, eyeing his surroundings thoughtfully. "Besides, if you have all these great secrets, how come you have a lame office?"

"I could tell you this is just how your puny mortal mind sees it all, but really it's because the bosses are lazy like that." He ceased tapping and the keyboard and relaxed, arms sagging behind him happily. "There we go, good as new. Try to keep from dying, ya hear?"

"Sure, Mr. Insect! See you soon!"

"No, I said don-" But Oikawa was already gone, blinking as he noticed the bright sunshine in comparison to the fluorescent hell he'd just been in. He turned back, to see a stunned Iwaizumi staring back at him. The crosswalk light changed in a few seconds, and the Iwaizumi was racing over, practically tackling Oikawa to the pavement.

"Oikawa, you dummy! Stupid Oikawa! Shitty Oikawa! I thought you **died!** "

And so the day went on, and Iwaizumi did cling to him and insist on sleepovers for a few days. Oikawa didn't really mind- something about that office between life and death had freaked him out a lot more than actually dying probably would have.


	4. Akaashi Dislikes Heights

"..." A vaguely metalic sheen was attached to this persons skin, the coppery sheen rippling in the light as they turned towards Akaashi. The whole fear thing was sort of off balance due to the whole office setting, down the the dulled tiles under Akaashi's sneakers.

"..." Akaashi blinked, and they did too, rather owlishly. It seemed like some sort of greeting.

"You won't do it again." He was pretty sure they were talking about him toppling from one of the upper levels of one of Tokyo's vast shopping malls. Not exactly his fault, but okay.

"No."

"Good. I can fix it."

"How?"

"You only get to die when I say so."

"That's sort of selfish of you." A razorblade smile opened their lips, revealing shark like teeth of tungsten.

"I try." One of the arms lifted- it was only then Akaashi noticed it wasn't exactly attached so much as it hovered by their shoulder- and patted his hair fondly. "Most cases do not make it to thirteen without incident. I am rather proud of you."

"There are other cases?"

"Hmm. My favorites outside of my own cases include a girl that drowned forty for times in half a day, a boy who stabbed himself repeatedly just to flirt with his handler, and someone who managed to get themselves shot over two hundred times in one month. Oh, but they were in a top ranked mafia famiglia, so it was to be expected, I suppose." They turned their eyes back to him, stern glare suddenly furrowing their brow. "I do not like to deal with such things myself, but you have been good so far."

"I try to be, for my own sake."

"Good. You will have your own trouble to deal with soon enough, anyway. Damn owls."

"Owls?" But he was back in the shopping mall, this time rather careful to put his mother between himself and the guardrail. He would look back, two years from then, and sigh exasperated. The damn metal person had know Bokuto was going to run into him, and hadn't had the decency to actually prepare him for the colossal pain in the ass Bokuto could be. Damn owls indeed.


End file.
